Post Of The Week – Monday 13th August 2018

Here is a video from Crash Course explaining t tests. You don’t need to know everything on here for the exam but it’s good background on why for a t test you need similar distributions and standard deviations.

2) Screen Time

This article on screen time makes a powerful point about how little we know about the effects of screen time. I’ve been spending much of the past three weeks thinking about how we can improve the practicals we do and therefore can do better science. This article shows what the point of this might be.

3) Brain Imaging

Here is Karl Friston explaining the different approaches to brain imaging and what progress is being made in bringing them together. The transcript of what he has to say is here.

4) Parenting

The assumption in Ainsworth’s research is that the behaviour of the infant is a consequence of the responsiveness of the adult. Cause and effect works just one way. That’s an assumption which is widespread is current ideas about parenting. This research challenges this idea, suggesting that kids shape their parents’ parenting.

5) Systems Neuroscience

This article explains how technology looks set to change the way we do neuroscience. This raises important questions about how we do science. Change will be rapid. Scientists will need to master what are now seen as different areas of expertise.

6) ADHD

You probably know someone diagnosed with ADHD. There’s always been controversy about whether ADHD is a real condition and whether children should be medicated for it. Some new research has come out which suggests that some drugs are effective and tolerable. It is worth looking at the coverage of this on the BBC. Click on this link and go 27 minutes into the programme. The discussion here is subtle and nuanced, a good example of how Psychology has moved from adopting one approach to embracing complexity.

7) Deej

This is the trailer for a Emmy nominated film about Deej. Deej is diagnosed with autism and does not speak. You can read more about him here.